Sep 21, 2021 - Sale 2579

Sale 2579 - Lot 101

Price Realized: $ 812
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,200 - $ 1,800

THEODORE ROSZAK (1907-1981)


Untitled photogram.
Silver print, the image measuring 254x203.2 mm; 10x8 inches, with Sara Jane Roszak's initials and credit "Theodore Roszak," in pencil, on verso. 1937-41.

Provenance: Artist's estate.

An exhibition of Theodore Roszak titled "Theodore Roszak: Photograms" was held at Zabriskie Gallery, New York from October 9-November 10, 1984. He was also exhibited in Paris in 1986, which coincided with a book published by Zabriskie Editions.

Theodore Roszak was a Polish-born American artist who experimented in several mediums including photography, sculpture, painting, and print making throughout his career. During a fellowship in Prague, Roszak was introduced to the aesthetics and ideology of Constructivism. He explored the Constructivist movement mainly through three-dimensional structures created from plaster, metal, and wood. Roszak was first introduced to the practice of photography in the 1930s when he began photographing his sculptural work in the studio. Inspired by Moholy-Nagy, Roszak quickly began experimenting with photograms and incorporated his constructivist style into his photographic compositions. Virginia Zabriskie was drawn to artists who could successfully demonstrate the link between sculpture and photography and the similarity of their depiction of formal compositional elements. Zabriskie was an early supporter of Roszak's career and continued to work extensively with the Theodore Roszak Estate.